My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 202 You are not Xiahou Yuan!

"General Zhang, the enemy's crossbows are too powerful. The stairs to the city were broken by Chen Deng, and there are spears blocking the entrance, so we can't rush up at all!"

A general named Qu Junhou had blood all over his face, and three or five crossbow arrows embedded in the iron bars were stuck in his armor. He complained to Zhang Liao in a panic.

His troops had just launched two charges towards the White Gate Tower, but were both shot back by Chen Deng with crossfire. The situation was similar for another ally of Qu, who charged towards the stairs on the other side of the tower, but also returned in vain.

Chen Deng was so vicious! He had someone secretly remove a gap more than one person high from the steps leading up to the city wall, and then put a thin wooden board on top, and then put a few blue bricks on top to cover it. There was nothing unusual on the surface, so it was probably that he had started the work secretly when it was just getting dark.

The thin wooden planks would break instantly once someone stepped on them, and several soldiers who climbed first fell to their deaths or were injured at the foot of the wall. Moreover, during the charge, the soldiers behind would not be able to stop their feet and would definitely continue to squeeze forward, resulting in chaos where everyone was trampling on each other.

Chen Deng also ordered his men to use crossbows to concentrate their fire on the stairs leading to the city wall, which immediately frightened Zhang Liao's soldiers, as no one wanted to die in vain.

Chen Deng came prepared. His army already had hundreds of crossbows and nearly a thousand bows. Before the uprising, he found various excuses to take an extra 300 to 400 crossbows from the arsenal, more than doubling the number of crossbows in his direct county troops.

Moreover, Chen Deng was prepared to defend for only one night, so he did not need to consider saving arrows. Zhao Yun would arrive after daybreak, so he could use as much firepower and deterrence as possible.

In Chen Deng's opinion, most of the soldiers in Xia Pi City will surrender to the lord in the future. If he kills too many of them, wouldn't that be killing his own people?
Therefore, we must use the most brutal means to shock people immediately, kill the least number of people, and achieve the most shocking deterrent effect.

Even though the enemy no longer rushed up and there were no enemies within a hundred steps of the White Gate Tower, Chen Deng ordered the crossbowmen not to stop firing completely, but to keep shooting arrows to deter the enemy, so that they would recognize the situation and stop coming to die.

Zhang Liao was helpless after seeing that several attempts at attack had failed. He knew that with the firepower density displayed by Chen Deng at the moment, it would definitely not work to just rush in and kill people.

The total number of troops under his command in the city was only about 6,000 to 7,000. Chen Deng had already assembled an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 men, including servants, on the towers, walls, and urn walls of the South City. The troops were so densely packed that the stairs to the wall were simply broken off. If he attacked head-on, his number of men would not be enough to kill them.

Zhang Liao could only grit his teeth and slightly change his plan. He ordered: "Go to the armory and prepare more large shields and rattan shields! Bring some sacks and have the soldiers shovel them full of mud. Then let the armored soldiers carry sandbags and shields to fill the gaps in the stairs to the city! Then we can attack!"
Divide the troops into four groups, each of which will climb the wall from the west and east of the city, then use bows and crossbows to clear a path along the wall and gradually squeeze the defenders in the south of the city!"

His subordinates immediately received the order. Some of them went back to find construction equipment and sacks to fill the pit, while Cao Xing took the four men to climb up the east and west walls and attack in a roundabout way to the south of the city.

But this whole process wasted at least half an hour.

Fortunately, Zhang Liao thought that Chen Deng's hope was Xiahou Yuan from Pengcheng, but Pengcheng was quite far away from Xia Pi, and it might take more than a day and a night to get there. If it was just cavalry, it might be possible to arrive by tomorrow afternoon.

Therefore, Zhang Liao is not in a hurry for now, as the vision is not good at night. If he can make preparations at five o'clock in the morning and launch a general attack tomorrow morning to take it down, there will not be any big problem.

He also noticed that Chen Deng was very immoderate in shooting arrows. His first two attacks had been repelled, but Chen Deng was still shooting arrows like a nervous person. This gave Zhang Liao an idea:
Perhaps Chen Deng didn't know how to fight, and because he was nervous about being discovered, he felt insecure, so he kept shooting arrows randomly. How many arrows could there be in the White Gate Tower? At this rate, maybe they would have run out of arrows by tomorrow? Even if they didn't run out of arrows, the crossbowmen would have been exhausted by such continuous fighting.

So Zhang Liao ordered some armored soldiers to carry large shields and go to the front to provoke, but not to enter within a hundred steps of the city wall, just to make noise and shout. With such a distance and level of protection, there is no need to worry about the armored soldiers being shot to death or injured, but it can exhaust the arrows and physical strength of Chen Deng's defenders, creating conditions for a general attack later, so why not do it?

Zhang Liao prepared for the tug of war like this, alternating between tension and relaxation, both civil and military, for more than an hour, and it was almost five o'clock in the morning.

Chen Gong, who had been patrolling and plugging leaks in other parts of the city, seemed to suddenly remember something. He rushed to the south city and found Zhang Liao. He got straight to the point and discussed with him:

"Wenyuan! Why haven't you taken down Baimen Tower yet? I heard from Cao Xing that you plan to slow down the attack and slowly wear down that villain Chen Deng first?"

Zhang Liao clasped his fists to Chen Gong and said, "Chen Deng has quite a few men, and our army is only less than twice as many as Chen Deng's. He has the advantage of terrain and so many bows and crossbows. If we attack by force, the casualties will be too great!

I see he doesn't know how to fight, doesn't care about the strength of his archers, and doesn't save his arrows. When it gets light, he will be almost exhausted, and I can break through with one blow!"

Chen Gong secretly groaned when he heard this: "How could Chen Deng not know military skills? He is bluffing like this, not sparing his energy and crossbows. He must have some expectations, to scare you!
By daybreak, Xiahou Yuan might not be able to arrive, but what about Zhuge Liang? Ling County is much closer to here than Pengcheng! If Liu Bei's men come to interfere, you and I will both die without a burial place!

Now that things have come to this, since you intend to slow down the attack, you should at least allocate some manpower to dig another long trench inside the White Gate Tower, and use the excavated soil to build a low wall behind the trench. This way, even if the enemy reinforcements rush into the city gate, there will still be a second line of defense!"

Zhang Liao thought Chen Gong's concerns made sense, but he was preparing for the general attack after daybreak, and there was a lot to do.

Digging trenches and building earth walls to block the road to the city gate is the fourth step of preparation, and its priority is lower than repairing the stairs to the city, attacking the south city from the top of the east and west walls, and preparing to charge into the south city.

Therefore, he really could not spare too many men to Chen Gong, so he had to temporarily mobilize more than a thousand miscellaneous troops to dig trenches and block roads according to Chen Gong's dispatch, thereby destroying the passability of the roads inside Baimen Tower.

This kind of plan, which requires all of this and more and has four different preparations, ultimately results in none of the plans being completed in time.

However, during the whole process, Chen Deng continued to speak to the Xia Pi defenders who were loyal to Zhang Liao, shaking Zhang Liao's morale and making everything even less efficient.

"My fellow countrymen of Xuzhou! Do you still not trust me, Chen Deng? I swear to God! I, Chen Deng, have always taken it as my responsibility to protect the lives of my fellow countrymen!
Back then, when that unkind and unjust Lu Bu launched a surprise attack on Xia Pi, I couldn't bear to see so many of you get killed or injured, so I didn't lead you in resisting. I would rather reluctantly abandon the benevolent and righteous Envoy Liu!

Now Lu Bu is at the end of his rope, being besieged by the imperial court with all their might. He is trapped in the isolated city of Pengcheng and cannot break out. His death is imminent!

In order to survive, you even abandoned the righteous Lord Liu. Why are you so foolish as to work for a beast like Lu Bu today? Why don't you just stay alive?"

It has to be said that Chen Deng still enjoys high prestige and credibility among the local people of Xia Pi.

Although the military command of these field troops was usually in the hands of Zhang Liao, they were all natives of Xuzhou after all.

The veterans that Lü Bu brought with him from Bingzhou and Guanzhong had almost all been lost, and even if there were any left, they were all in Pengcheng and would not stay in Xiapi. The troops that followed were all recruited from Xuzhou.

As Chen Deng's words were spread by the hundreds of soldiers guarding the White Gate Tower, Zhang Liao's military morale was quickly shaken.

In addition, it was still dark and the troops were difficult to control in the dark. Some troops sent by Zhang Liao to perform other minor tasks soon deserted in an organized manner or remained on standby to save their lives.

For example, of the four groups sent by Zhang Liao to attack the south city along the east and west walls, only the two groups led by Cao Xing himself were barely still fighting.

The other route was not supervised by Cao Xing, but was led by two local Xuzhou generals, Qu Junhou. After being shaken by Chen Deng's troops, they fled without a trace and returned to the camp to wait and see what would happen.

The miscellaneous soldiers who were pulled by Chen Gong to dig temporary trenches and build earth walls to create a second line of defense in Baimen Tower also took advantage of the chaos at night and pretended to dig with shovels. While digging, they saw a time when Chen Gong was not paying close attention and ran away with the shovels.

Back then, we didn't even risk our lives to protect such a benevolent lord as Liu Shijun, so why should we protect Lu Bu!

By the time Zhang Liao realized something was wrong, his so-called 6,000 to 7,000 troops had already suffered hundreds of casualties, with 2,000 to 3,000 fleeing and watching. He was completely unable to launch a general attack on Chen Deng. Zhang Liao realized something was wrong, but he couldn't make up his mind to give up, so he had to risk changing his plan and temporarily organized a strong attack, but as expected, he was defeated again.

In a siege, a general's personal bravery and majesty really have little room to play. Besides, Zhang Liao is not very brave now, and one of his arms is useless.

After another defeat, time passed slowly and it was almost five o'clock in the morning.

The sunrise in mid-May of the lunar calendar and around the summer solstice is particularly early, with the first rays of morning light already appearing on the horizon.

Finally, cheers suddenly broke out from the city wall. Zhang Liao felt anxious and furious, but he could not figure out the situation.

It was not until he saw cavalry rushing into the city from afar that Zhang Liao felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head: How could the enemy reinforcements arrive so quickly? Wasn't Xiahou Yuan besieging Pengcheng? How could they arrive in just the middle of the night?
"Could it be that the messenger that was intercepted last night was not the only one that Chen Deng sent to contact Xiahou Yuan? Could it be that he sent several messengers, and the one that was intercepted was only the last one?"

Zhang Liao's mind was working rapidly, and his intuition could only give him such a simple and crude explanation. There was indeed a flag with the word "Xiahou" flying in the enemy cavalry. Although it was not very clear in the dim light of the morning, flags with double surnames were too rare, and Zhang Liao would definitely not be wrong.

The cavalry team rushed into the city gate and the inner gate in a show of force. A general was in the lead, riding his horse and holding his spear. He charged left and right, waving his spear everywhere, as if he was commanding his troops to seize the key points in the city.

Zhang Liao saw the enemy's arrogance and realized that with his limited force, he couldn't even attack the White Gate Tower defended by Chen Deng head-on. Once all these cavalry entered the city and gained a foothold, he would be doomed.

Moreover, Chen Deng's appeal to the locals in Xiapi County will be even stronger by then! Ordinary soldiers will be unstoppable if they waver and surrender to the enemy!
It's the same principle as when Wen Hou broke into Baimen Tower three years ago, Zhang Fei's troops quickly collapsed.

Zhang Liao clearly remembered that when Zhang Fei saw Wen Hou entering the city, he made a final desperate counterattack and charged with his personal cavalry, wanting to fight a decisive battle with Wen Hou.

Zhang Fei knew that only by killing Wen Hou or defeating him could things turn around. But Zhang Fei's martial arts were not enough to defeat Wen Hou, not to mention that he and Wen Hou attacked Zhang Fei together. Zhang Fei, who was surrounded and beaten, soon collapsed and fled, and his side was able to seize Xia Pi.

As an eyewitness of the battle three years ago, Zhang Liao was very familiar with it.

So he instinctively followed the path dependence and thought of a desperate opportunity to break the deadlock - rushing forward with his personal guards, a surprise attack and killing Xiahou Yuan, things will turn around! Just like if Zhang Fei killed Lu Bu in the battle, he could defend Xia Pi!
"Xiahou Yuan is not weak in martial arts, but he is more skilled in riding and shooting. He has long been in a high position and will not fight with others easily. He may have become lazy. Although I have injured my arm and have not recovered my full strength, as long as I act quickly and make a desperate attack, I may have a chance!"

Zhang Liao had no choice but to go up now, and he mistook the enemy for Xiahou Yuan, and he couldn't see his face clearly in the morning light because the distance was too far, so he shouted loudly and called on more than a hundred cavalry guards around him to follow and counterattack, hoping to kill the general and turn the situation around.

He followed Lu Bu for many years, and Lu Bu and Cao Cao fought so many battles. Zhang Liao also fought with Xiahou Yuan many times, so he was familiar with the depth of Xiahou Yuan's martial arts.

In contrast, as for Zhao Yun, he had only heard of his rising fame in the past one or two years, and that was all. He had never seen Zhao Yun in person, nor did he know what he looked like.

Before Lu Bu came to Xuzhou, Zhao Yun had already said goodbye to Liu Bei and returned to his hometown. After Zhao Yun was found the year before last, Lu Bu and Liu Bei completely stopped fighting again and never fought again.

All of Zhao Yun's military achievements were achieved in battles with Yuan Shu's army, so none of the generals under Lu Bu had ever seen Zhao Yun in person.

Zhang Liao relied on his uninjured right arm, wielded the horse-slashing sword with one hand, and accelerated his horse to the maximum speed without hesitation, rushing towards the enemy general who was suspected to be Xiahou Yuan. His tactics were already a life-for-life fighting style, and he only wanted to slash and stab wildly as soon as he made contact, regardless of anything, to take the initiative to kill the enemy.

It was not until he rushed to within twenty steps that Zhang Liao felt his eyes become slightly dazed. In the dim light of morning light, he could see that the opponent's facial features and armor details did not look like Xiahou Yuan's, and his weapons were also somewhat different.

Unfortunately, his horse was trapped in the crossroads and he could not turn back. Zhang Liao realized that he was a little distracted, so he quickly focused his mind and forced himself not to think about anything else and just charge forward.

“No matter if he is Xiahou Yuan or not, kill him first!” When the two sides were within ten steps, Zhang Liao had already swung his horse-slaying sword at its fastest speed, slashing forward with a whistling sound.

The general's horsemanship was very good. He turned his horse's head slightly in advance in the last ten steps. He was supposed to rush to Zhang Liao's right side, but after turning, he moved to Zhang Liao's left side. Zhang Liao's left arm had just recovered from a serious injury. His main hand holding the sword was his right hand. When attacked from the left, he had to swing the sword with his backhand, and his strength was even less.

With a crisp sound, the general's steel spear accurately stabbed the side of the horse-cutting sword.

Before the weapons met, Zhang Liao had already realized that something was wrong. Regardless of the weakness of his left arm, he temporarily grasped the hilt of the sword with his left hand, trying to win with one strike by holding the sword with both hands.

But he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left arm, his palm was numb and sore, and his horse-slaying sword was also knocked away by the enemy.

The enemy's second move seemed to require no rest at all, and it attacked continuously, like a raging storm.

Zhang Liao instinctively held the sword in his right hand to block, but how could one arm resist the opponent's two hands? Moreover, he swung the sword with his backhand, and the angle made it difficult for him to exert force, so the horse-slaying sword was knocked out of his hand.

The third spear was immediately aimed at Zhang Liao's vitals. He used all his strength to dodge sideways, but he only avoided the vitals. However, he was still stabbed and hit by the enemy's spear and fell off his horse.

Zhang Liao felt a violent blow to his chest and abdomen, and a mouthful of blood surged up. Then he was hit by the impact of falling to the ground, and finally vomited it out. His body rolled on the ground for several circles, and he roared in a vague and unwilling voice: "You...you are not Xiahou Yuan!"

Zhao Yun coldly ordered his men to tie up Zhang Liao, thus forcing the other Xia Pi defenders to surrender.

"Lord Xuande's reinforcements have arrived! They have come to reinforce Lord Chen! Those who surrender will be retained!"

Zhang Liao, who was already tied up, finally understood at this moment: "What? You are not Cao's army? You are Liu Bei's men? You are Zhao Yun?!"

After figuring this out, Zhang Liao couldn't help but feel regretful and vomited blood again: If I had known that this was Zhao Yun and not Xiahou Yuan, I would not have chosen to attack and kill the general! I fell into a trap!
Little did he know that Zhao Yun secretly raised the banner with the word Xiahou in it just to make it easier to march along the way. In case he encountered the scout net spread by Cao's army when approaching Xiapi, it would also prevent alerting the enemy.

In fact, Zhao Yun specially prepared many flags with words on them for this operation, including those with the word Zhao, and even those with the words Zhang, Lu, and Gao. He would fly whichever flag was convenient for passing through while marching. It was not to trick Zhang Liao into underestimating the enemy.

With Zhang Liao being captured and Chen Deng's appeal, the defenders in Xia Pi City naturally collapsed quickly, and were forced to surrender and be incorporated by Zhao Yun in less than an hour.

However, Zhao Yun did not dare to be careless. He still remembered the two details that Zhuge Liang told him before setting off, so after controlling the situation, he immediately began to search for Chen Gong.

Chen Gong, with several hundred soldiers in charge of digging trenches, plus Cao Xing who came to meet him in a panic, could not run too far and was quickly surrounded and blocked by Zhao Yun.

The soldiers around Chen Gong immediately scattered. Zhao Yun rode forward and knocked down Chen Gong and Cao Xing with his spear. Then he asked about the residence of other captives around Chen Gong. He took Chen Gong to his residence, pretended to throw Chen Gong in, and ordered the soldiers to set fire to Chen Gong's residence.

Then they announced to the public: "Chen Gong saw through Chen Deng's plan to surrender to the court, and raised an army to try to kill Chen Deng. Fortunately, the court's reinforcements arrived in time and defeated Chen Gong's counterattack. Chen Gong knew that he was guilty of a serious crime, so he returned to his mansion to resist stubbornly and set fire to his home to commit suicide."

Chen Gong escaped from the fire scene with his face covered in dirt and ash, but was intercepted by Zhao Yun, tied up, thrown into prison, and warned:
"You are already dead. You are to blame for Cao Cao's failure to capture Xia Pi! Even if you escape, Cao Cao will hunt you down as soon as you show up! The most we did was to fail to check you carefully and let you fake your death and escape!"

(End of this chapter)